Author
Topic: Shoot 2K, 3K & 4K on a T2i/550D? (Read 36059 times)

I was just notified on my Facebook page by Forian Bottger about this that someone called Earz62801 will be releasing a firmware hack for the T2i/ 550d (not the other Canons) that will give it 2K, 3K,4K video recording capability and bit rates between 45mb/s and 175mb/s. . The date of the release is Jan the 1st. This is nothing to do with Magic Lantern, just totally out of the blue from this person.

stark, I'm not sure that's correct. as kandrews noted, 2K, 3K, and 4K are actually resolution sizes, which would relate to the number of lines on a screen.

raw video is a whole separate issue, and I don't know that we'll be able to sneak that out of existing cams purely with a firmware hack.

Here is yet another explanation.

Video Formats

Unlike other video formats, which are specified in terms of vertical resolution (e.g. 1080p, which is 1920x1080 pixels), digital cinema formats are usually specified in terms of horizontal resolution. As a shorthand, these resolutions are often given in "nK" notation, where n is the multiplier of 1024 such that the horizontal resolution of a corresponding full-aperture, digitized film frame is exactly 1024n pixels. Here the 'K' has a customary, improper meaning: it should be the binary prefix "kibi" (ki) instead.

For instance, a 2K image is 2048 pixels wide, and a 4K image is 4096 pixels wide. Vertical resolutions vary with aspect ratios though; so a 2K image with a HDTV (16:9) aspect ratio is 2048x1152 pixels, while a 2K image with a SDTV or Academy ratio (4:3) is 2048x1536 pixels, and one with a Panavision ratio (2.39:1) would be 2048x856 pixels, and so on. Due to the "nK" notation not corresponding to specific horizontal resolutions per format a 2K image lacking, for example, the typical 35mm film soundtrack space, is only 1828 pixels wide, with vertical resolutions rescaling accordingly. This led to a plethora of motion-picture related video resolutions, which is quite confusing and often redundant with respect to nowadays few projection standards.

All formats designed for digital cinematography are progressive scan, and capture usually occurs at the same 24 frame per second rate established as the standard for 35mm film.

The DCI standard for cinema usually relies on a 1.89:1 aspect ratio, thus defining the maximum container size for 4K as 4096x2160 pixels and for 2K as 2048x1080 pixels [1] (either 24fps or 48fps). When distributed in the form of a Digital Cinema Package (DCP), content is letterboxed or pillarboxed as appropriate to fit within one of these container formats.

Edwin Herdman

Unfortunately it is also the very wrong explanation. Without getting into what people do for a living or what terms people think are being used, "4K resolution" is the standard everywhere I've looked for video that's 4,000 pixels wide, which would make it akin to 1080p in fact. You are probably thinking about something like bitrate. There's talk of some cameras having the 4K resolution, or of theaters being ready for digital cinema or for 4K resolution (I fancied myself able to tell the difference between previews being shown in low-res while the main feature was at a higher resolution - but I couldn't say for certain if that was 2K and 4K, or 2K and film which is most likely. Stuff I've read suggests that at least within the last few years 4K movie projectors have made some headway, but aren't found everywhere.

Back to the news topic - I'd be wary of private developers overpromising or even just pulling the collective legs of camera users, but I don't see why it's not possible. I wouldn't make any purchasing decisions based on this, but it does stand to reason that they wouldn't have announced to the world that they were working on something before it was ready (which is a point against the idea that this is not legitimate). So I would say - if you own a 550D, something pretty nice is probably coming your way.

No idea how Canon will react to the number of suddenly melted 550D insides appearing at their shops, though - but it probably won't be used so much as to become an epidemic anyway. I do think that the usual advice of using a battery grip probably won't be all that's necessary to help keep it cool, though. And how would firmware reflashing work? For that matter it'll be interesting to see how this coexists (or doesn't) with the normal camera features and look (the picture is hackertastic, in a nostalgic sort of way, but not big on readability).

On other threads in this forum, it has been suggested that 4K video will become popular for consumer camcorders. And when are the 4K televisions being introduced? 4k is a production standard for making movies to be shown on movie screens that are 60 feet wide, but at lot of people I know are watching their movies at home upconverted from standard DVDs distributed at 720x480.

On other threads in this forum, it has been suggested that 4K video will become popular for consumer camcorders. And when are the 4K televisions being introduced? 4k is a production standard for making movies to be shown on movie screens that are 60 feet wide, but at lot of people I know are watching their movies at home upconverted from standard DVDs distributed at 720x480.

I don't expect to see real 4K camcorders for consumers soon.

We are still waiting for it on mid priced professional models. Only a very few high end cinema cameras have 4K at 4:4:4. Most are 4:2:2. The Red epic is likely the forrunner of medium priced 4K cameras, but it is stil way more expensive than a consumer camcorder. Its modular, so you have to buy several pieces to get a working unit. Its estimated that it cost about $2 million for the Red epic, accessories, and lenses for Peter Jackson to shoot "The Hobbit" The camera itself only cost about $58,000, but it is only a tiny part of the total cost. This is cheap compared to other 4K 4:4:4 cinema cameras.

On other threads in this forum, it has been suggested that 4K video will become popular for consumer camcorders. And when are the 4K televisions being introduced? 4k is a production standard for making movies to be shown on movie screens that are 60 feet wide, but at lot of people I know are watching their movies at home upconverted from standard DVDs distributed at 720x480.

I don't expect to see real 4K camcorders for consumers soon.

We are still waiting for it on mid priced professional models. Only a very few high end cinema cameras have 4K at 4:4:4. Most are 4:2:2. The Red epic is likely the forrunner of medium priced 4K cameras, but it is stil way more expensive than a consumer camcorder. Its modular, so you have to buy several pieces to get a working unit. Its estimated that it cost about $2 million for the Red epic, accessories, and lenses for Peter Jackson to shoot "The Hobbit" The camera itself only cost about $58,000, but it is only a tiny part of the total cost. This is cheap compared to other 4K 4:4:4 cinema cameras.

stark-arts

this seems almost impossible to me but if it's true - wow. While 6 seconds isn't much - the 2k and 3k numbers if true are very usable. If i could somehow get 120 fps out of my 5DII i'd be very happy as well.